Ethnic Groups in Ethiopia - Origins

Origins

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Ethiopia and Sudan are largely agreed upon by most linguists as the Afro-Asiatic Urheimat. More recent linguistic studies as to the origin of the Ethiosemitic languages seem to supportthe DNA findings of immigration from the Arabian Peninsula with a recent study using Bayesian computational phylogenetic techniques finding that "contemporary Ethiosemitic languages of Africa reflect a single introduction of early Ethiosemitic from southern Arabia approximately 2,800 years ago", and that this single introduction of Ethiosemitic underwent "Rapid Diversification" within Ethiopia and Eritrea. The study also went further to state, "Thus, we propose that the current distribution of Ethiosemitic reflects a process of language diffusion through existing African populations with little gene flow from the Arabian Peninsula (i.e. a language shift)."

There are many theories regarding the beginning of the Ethiopian civilisation. One theory, which is more widely accepted today locates its origins in Africa, while acknowledging the influence of the Sabeans on the opposite side of the Red Sea. At a later period, Ethiopian civilisation was exposed to Judaic influence, of which the best-known examples are the Qemant and Ethiopian Jews (or Beta Israel) ethnic groups, but Judaic customs, terminology, and beliefs can be found amongst the dominant culture of the Amhara and Tigrinya. Indian alphabets have been claimed as the example used to create the vowel system of the Ge'ez abugida.

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